Government cuts funding for HIV/AIDS treatment
(Columbia) December 1, 2006 - On World AIDS day, there's a plea to save lives. Activists and patients say they need help to get badly needed medicine.
Kelly has been in and out of hospital beds since she found out she had HIV two years ago. This past July, more bad news.
She'd been put on a waiting list for a program that provides medicine for people like her who can't afford it. She says when she was put on the list, she thought she had time, but "in that three to four month period I went from having HIV to AIDS."
Kelly is one of 324 South Carolinians on the list that was started in July after federal funding was cut. The million dollars lost was devastating.
A look at the state dollars left for AIDS funding is startling. According to the Department of Health and Environmental Control, South Carolina has half a million dollars set aside for HIV/AIDS programs. It pales in comparison to our neighbors in North Carolina, which has $12 million, Georgia $11 million and Alabama $5 million dedicated to the cause.
Activist Karen Bates says, "I think most people are unaware of that and I think most people would agree nobody in a country as rich as ours should have to wait to receive life-saving medication."
Activists believe there's a short-term answer. They want DHEC to shift unspent money around - to put $3 million towards ending the current list.
The state's budget and control board would have to approve it.
A spokesman says in a situation like this they'd expedite the process, but so far there has been no request. Lynda Kettinger of DHEC says, "It is possible that we will see more people die.
Kettinger says the agency does not have the resources to front the millions of dollars needed now. She hopes next month that will change, "We plan to work with the General Assembly to get supplemental funds."
Till then, there's a part of Kelly that doesn't want to move up on the list, because of what it'll mean, "It's pretty much like waiting for an organ transplant because you're waiting for someone to die."
Recently, three South Carolinians on the waiting list lost their battle with AIDS.
DHEC is working with patient assistance groups to get people like Kelly the medicine they need.
Next month, DHEC plans to ask the General Assembly for $5 million in funding to help patients on the list.
Reported by Angie Goff
posted by Akira Ohiso at 12/05/2006 12:25:00 PM
2 Comments:
Since 1981, more or less 50 million people have been infected by HIV of which over 22 million people already died. Now, over 40 million people are living with HIV. The overall situation in sub-Saharan countries especially in South Africa is terrible. One out of five is being found HIV positive in South Africa and rising each day. The more deadly news on this issue recently was found in Botswana where the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS has already reached 40 per cent. But the government of these countries is not much concern about this deadly disease. According to the testimony of '4th Global Report on AIDS Epidemic' there are 4.3 million people newly infected in 2006 worldwide and 2.9 million people died for this disease in the same year. The trend shows that the recent years, the ratio of HIV infection has greatly been increased which is worrisome news for the international community.
Treating ulcerative sexually transmitted diseases reduces the infectivity of HIV in certain populations. STIs/STDs are known to be important in increasing the infectivity of HIV, but to what extent is debatable. However, despite the somewhat conflicting evidence to date, it is generally felt that STI/STDs control is a cost-effective and beneficial HIV-prevention measure in settings where HIV prevalence is low or moderate, where treatable STIs/STDs are highly prevalent, and if treatment is available continuously and efforts are made to find and to treat symptomatic infections. In fact, these conditions apply to a large proportion of the world's population, including many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a few in South and Central America, and some parts of India and other countries in Asia. Syndromic STI/STDs diagnosis and treatment has been widely promoted as an HIV-prevention strategy. Yet, there are increasing doubts regarding the efficacy of syndromic STI/STDs diagnosis and treatment for HIV prevention in populations with a low prevalence of STIs and a high prevalence of HIV. The efficacy of syndromic STI/STDs diagnosis and treatment for women’s non-ulcerative STIs/STDs, a high proportion of which are asymptomatic, is also poor. Overall, the question is not whether STIs/STDs should be controlled, but how to do this in different populations and countries for effective HIV/AIDS prevention.
In the middle of 2003, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has carried-out an exclusive survey in 15 countries round the world on HIV/AIDS status. The result is quite revealing. It says about 50 per cent people of Brazil and Nigeria think that HIV/AIDS is not life-hunting disease at all. The people of South Africa and their government are very much concern about the law & orders but not about this deadly disease. The people of Ukraine, Russia and China are the least concerned about HIV/AIDS. According to the UNAIDS report, these 3 countries are going to fall into the category of HIV epidemic.
Most of Asia have all the socio-economic and human development factors that fuel the epidemic and make the region collectively vulnerable. This common environment within the region offers opportunities for common regional approaches and tools building on tried and tested successful models that are culturally appropriate and economically feasible.
The Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation identified four major approaches in a groundbreaking study on spread out HIV in Asia. This study undertook by comparing of social-economic norm, family pattern, economic dependency, cause of mounting sex industries, gender discrimination status & global analysis fact. There are four factors that appear to play a crucial role in HIV transmission in Asian countries: Injection/ intravenous drug use (By sharing needle), female sex work (Due to lack of safe sex knowledge), gender discrimination (which indirectly force females commercial or non-commercial sex), Same sex/ homosexually/ Hijara (Due to lack of HIV/AIDS information, because they act invisible in this society). Poverty & illiteracy fueled it proportionally.
The scale of the economic impact of HIV is difficult to measure. However, available data show that the epidemic is reversing annual economic growth by 1-2 percent points in worst affected countries. At the micro level, families are hit the hardest, with studies showing drops in income by 80 percent in households with a person living with HIV in Thailand, and drops in food consumption by 40 percent among families in the North East of India. The epidemic is also affecting sectors critical for effective development including health, agriculture, railways, transport, tourism and defense. Another cost-dimension that emerges from the impact of HIV is on business. In a globalized setting, serious epidemics in India and China will have business implications for other Asian countries including Korea and Japan.
This epidemic is not only killing people but also imposing heavy burden on families, communities and economy. However, though HIV/AIDS is incurable but it is fully preventable. 'Prevention is better than cure' is true here and mostly a vital aspect. So, we should choose the options of preventing measure. How can we make it accessible and practicable? It has five options. Firstly, not to do sex; secondly, sex only with your legal life-partner (spouse); thirdly, use condom (latex) during sex; fourthly, not to share needle & syringe; and fifthly, use safe blood transfusion & limb transplantation. These options are very easy, possible and acceptable. However, the best way to tackle a problem is to recognize that it exits and talk about it free and frankly. So, let us all play our role to sustain our future generation and well-being.
Dr. Cuity Yang
Independent Consultancy
Xinwen Rd, Futian District,
Shenzhen Guangdong
China
Thanks to this great herbal doctor who cured my friend of HIV/aids, his name is Dr. Iyabiye. My friend suffered HIV for so long that she lost her job and became stranded financially because of HIV antiretroviral drugs she buys every time. Until 2 months ago when I heard about this doctor and I did contacted him to help my friend, he administered his medication on her and she was confirmed cured and free at the hospital after the treatment. I came here to inform the general public and to safe people from this life threatening & killing disease. Contact: iyabiyehealinghome@gmail.com (+2348072229413 / +2348158577300)
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